Love in the Dark
by JJJPK
Summary: Based on Adele's song, Love in the Dark (go give it a listen, it rocks!). Featuring Bruce WHUMP, and some much needed comfort from our favorite Amazon. Oh, and how could I forget? Loads of romantic angst and feels. Because, I mean, why would there be a Superhero who actually CAN get hurt, except for fangirls to shamelessly hurt him? I ask you?


**A/N: Howdy all! As you may have (though probably have not) noticed, I re branded this fic a little bit. Because, well (blushes) it didn't get as many hits as I wanted it to. And I'm actually pretty proud of it. I write fanfiction that I would want to read. I realized, however, that my previous description was straight crap, so I wrote one that would be enticing to me, as a reader, if I was cruising around the coolest club on the internet (i.e. ) at 2:00 A.M. on a Monday morning before a big test, and I really, REALLY needed my Batman Wonder woman fix to be satisfied so I could go to sleep happy. So, what are the things I would be looking for in those desperate straits? #1 (First and foremost) BRUCE WHUMP! CHECK! #2 Bruce and Diana awesomeness. CHECK! #3 Romance with just the right amount of angst, drama, and a hint of sadness. CHECK! #4 Something short, preferably a one shot so I'm not left in suspense. CHECK! #5 Something simple and to the point, with a plot that won't make my head swim and leaves out all the other 29 chapters of Joker and plot crap and just gets straight to the good stuff. CHECK! So, if that's what you're after, this ficlet will deliver all those things, and fulfill all those dreams. I mean, if that's what you're looking for, DING DING DING! YOU'VE FOUND THE FIC FOR YOU! If not, I'm sorry, you have to look else wheres. (Now that I've finished shamelessly talking up this fic I'm just going to go run to a corner and hide. I'm not normally this bragy, it just sorta happened. OH PLEASE HAVE MERCY, DON'T THROUGH THAT TOMATO AT ME. . .)**

Bruce lay on the ground, gasping for breath. To say he was confused would probably be one of the biggest understatements of the century. His mind was not only figuratively spinning, his view of the dark alley and the pavement felt like it was literally whirling at a hundred miles an hour. The effort it took to think was causing physical pain. There had been a fight, but that was the only thing his mind could supply in the way of an explanation to the question that burned him—"How did I get here?"

But there was no time for these idle considerations. He needed to take stalk of the situation as he was obviously in a certain amount of danger, which most likely increased the longer he lay there. He moved his arms. His left bicep seemed to have a bullet wound. He knew he had cuts on his face as he could feel sticky blood, even with the pouring rain. All of this would have been perfectly manageable if his entire right side didn't feel like there was an elephant sitting on it. Breathing was the most difficult task, besides trying to make it back to the bat mobile. He didn't know how, but he eventually hauled himself and made it back, heading for the Watch Tower as quickly as he could.

He tried to enter quietly. But as he walked in the door, the world started swimming in black dots and he eventually lost all vision entirely. He stumbled and sank to his knees. Easing his hands on the floor, he took a moment to try to collect himself. But his plans of secrecy were thwarted when he heard a familiar, sonorous yet feminine voice,

"Bruce! What happened?!" He felt more than saw her drop to her knees beside him. Diana was not someone he needed to see at the moment. Their relationship had been so strained over the last few weeks, that her presence had been causing his heart to ache every time he was in her presence.

"There, was a fight," His chest seized in a painful spasm that caused him to collapse in agony onto what would have been the floor, only it wasn't. A pair of thin but strong arms caught him and eased his head onto someone's chest.

"Shh, try to relax, I'll get you to the infirmary." Despite the fact that he was much heavier and a little taller, she lifted his limp form with relative ease. When they reached the infirmary, she gently set him down on a table and he assumed a sitting position, though he had to admit, at the moment lying down seemed like the much more comfortable option.

"Diana, what are you doing?" He was rigid and uncomfortable. Now that he had recovered some of his composure, the dull ache, which had nothing to do with any of his injuries, had flooded his chest.

"I'm helping you, of course." Her voice was laced with the same tension.

"You know, you don't have to. This isn't your job."

"What do you mean? If it's not my job to help the man I love, what _is_ my job?" The sound of those words cut him like a knife. "You're always so emotionally distant Bruce. I don't know what I did, but tell me how I can fix it! Why won't you ever let me help you? Why don't you ever share any of your burdens with me? You always push me away." By the time the last words had left her lips, he could see she was close to tears. He couldn't help groaning. Their love had turned into some sort of enigma which he couldn't solve. He didn't want her to get hurt. He knew that if he didn't want her to be swallowed up by all his darkness, he'd have to let her go. He hadn't had the guts to do it till now, but he realized he needed to make a clean breast of this and tell her it was over.

"Diana, we can't go on like this."

"D*mn right we can't!" She was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.

"We have to end this. You're right, I have burdens, too many. And they're not your responsibility. I'd be selfish if I made you share them."

"But Bruce, I don't mind!"

"No Diana!" He came on in a tone much more aggressive than he meant it to be. "If you stay with me, it's going to kill you, albeit slowly, but it'll kill you all the same. You don't understand, you can't live with this much darkness without becoming something dark yourself."

"Well if you never share any of your pain, it's going to kill _you_ Bruce!"

"Oh, believe me, it already has. This isn't about saving me Diana, it's about saving you."

"From what Bruce?!"

"From me. Look Diana, it's over."

"So, you mean, you don't love me?" The first tears were starting to escape down her smooth cheeks. His shoulders sagged in defeat and his next words came out in a near whisper.

"I love you to distraction."

"Then…why? I don't understand?" He shook his head.

"Neither do I. All I know, is that you have to go, okay?" She shook her head.

"Can I at least take care of your wounds?" He slowly nodded his head. She wiped her tears, trying to be brave. Letting go of a shaky sigh, she gently began unbuckling the upper portion of his armor. As it slid away from his torso, she couldn't suppress a gasp. His arm had a deep, bloody wound where a bullet had gone clean through and right side was covered in a deep burgundy and blue bruise. Not to mention many other minor scrapes. "Oh Bruce," she murmured, pain written all over her face. He swallowed guiltily. This was exactly what he couldn't keep doing to her. He knew that watching someone you loved suffer was much worse than actually suffering yourself. And watching her suffer because of him, was unendurable. And it was also ridiculous. It was like the only thing left for them was pain. There was no remedy.

He hated the way his body reacted as she dexterously bandaged his arm. He had missed her touch, her smell, her _nearness._ His stomach somersaulted uncontrollably. When her fingers reached his side however, he shied away, and he couldn't help but gasp at the excruciating sensation caused by the gentle pressure she applied. Her eyes flicked up to his, full of fear.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"Could you try to be still while I check your ribs?" He nodded his head and gritted his teeth. He knew she was trying to be gentle, but every prod opened new depths of suffering that he hadn't even known existed. "You have four fractured ribs." He was incapable of speech, so he just nodded. The physical pain she had just inflicted seemed like a mere shadow next to the emotional pain she was causing him, however. It was like she was ripping his heart out every time she looked at him. He felt his eyes beginning to swim with salt water. He realized she was staring at him intently. Though he was the one with a chest injury, she seemed to be having an equally difficult time with respiration. For almost a minute they stared at each other taking turns drawing shaky breaths.

When she reached up to his face to pull off his cowl, he was gripped by a kind of strangling, choking sensation. It was like everything inside him had twisted into an irreparable tangle. Her fingers made contact with his temples and a shudder ran through his overwrought body. As the mask slipped from her grasp and hit the floor, he couldn't look her in the eye. He turned his deep brown eyes down towards the floor, but it was an imprudent decision as the tears brimming in his eyes were forced down his cheeks. He looked up at her with a guilty expression only to find her dark eyes brimming with tears as well. And before he could stop himself he was shaking with sobs. And it hurt like h*ll. Everything hurt. That was all he was conscious of, agonizing pain. He felt his strength ebbing and he slumped till his face was buried in the crook of her neck. Her arms wrapped securely around him and he hated that this was the only place he felt safe. Her fingers fiddled with the hair on the nape of his neck and he melted into her, eventually spending all his tears and only being assaulted by an occasional heaving sob.

When she took him by the shoulders and gently pushed him back a few inches so she could see his face, he tried to hang his head, but she took her thumb and tipped it up.

"You know, we don't have to do this. We don't have to split."

"No Diana, don't torture me like this!" He didn't want her to say another word because he already knew what she'd just said would haunt him for the rest of his life.

"I love you Bruce."

"I know." He rested his forehead on his palm, as if he no longer had the strength to hold up his head. "I love you too." She pushed his hand off his head and closed the distance between their lips. He breathed her, tasted her, melted into her. He wanted that moment to last forever. It was a salty, bloody kiss, reminding him of the brokenness. Nothing outside of this moment would ever be fine again, but he shouldn't think of that right now, he should just think of her, and all her perfection. When he finally felt like he would drown in her if he didn't take a breath of air, she pulled back, but continued kissing his face and jaw. She kissed the cut on his left temple, and the scar on his forehead and the bruise under his eye. And every time she whispered,

"I love you," It hurt worse than the time before.

"You-you should go!" He gasped.

"I love you." He knew if she didn't leave soon, all resolve either of them had ever had would crumble completely.

"Diana," it came out as a strangled moan. Finally, she peered up at him. "Please, go. For my sake." She swallowed hard, nodded and stood to go. But she took her time about it and looked back at him every few steps. He knew any word, look, or even hint of an acknowledgement and he could have her back in his arms in a flash. And it took everything he had to keep his face set and his gaze fixed squarely on the floor till she had gone.

He let the last shards of his composure flea with her and he keeled sideways on the table, and surrendered to the darkness.


End file.
